Guest artists bolster Chieftains' Irish mix

REVIEW

REVIEW

March 04, 2006|JEREMY D. BONFIGLIO Tribune Staff Writer

SOUTH BEND Paddy Moloney looked content. He tapped his toes and grinned widely. Gave a couple thumbs up and leapt from his chair to shake the hand of Notre Dame Symphony Orchestra conductor Daniel Stowe. The Chieftains leader, uilleann piper and tin whistle master never seemed more at home than he was Thursday night in front of a sold-out crowd at the University of Notre Dame's DeBartolo Center for the Performing Arts. His legendary band fed off the energy of a long list of young guest artists who played and danced alongside The Chieftains throughout the 2 1/2-hour concert. The core group of the band -- Moloney, Matt Molloy (flute), Sean Keane (fiddle) and Kevin Conneff (bodhran, vocals) -- was augmented by Irish harpist Triona Marshall, Nashville guitarist Jeff White and fiddler Jon Pilatzke. The show also featured The Cottars, a young quartet from Cape Breton, Nova Scotia, and the Notre Dame Symphony Orchestra, which will again join The Chieftains on March 17 in New York City. As always, Moloney's definitive style on the uillean pipes and his haunting tin whistle formed the backbone for most of the music. That distinct Irish sound was acutely paired with White's guitar and vocals on "Country Blues," a clear highlight of the first half. The tempo and Moloney's jokes picked up when he introduced The Cottars. The Cottars, the two brother-sister duos Ciaran and Fiona MacGillivray and Roseanne and Jimmy MacKenzie, seemed outmatched by the elder statesmen. Although the teenagers started out shaky, they found their pitch and won over the audience with their vocal harmonies. Notre Dame Symphony Orchestra and Colligeum Musicum, under Stowe's direction, however, held their own when they joined the eclectic ensemble in the second half. The orchestration from "The Long Journey Home" seemed to raise the bar. During that medley, Van Morrison and Elvis Costello were replaced on "Shenendoah" and "Anthem" by the vocal force of Collegium Musicum. Coupled with the symphony, the inspired performance left Moloney giddy. Two symphony members got to share the spotlight as well. French horn player Rebecca Phillips stepped up to the challenge of "Planxty Mozart," a piece that compares the maestro's work to that of an old Irish jig, and violinist Vanessa Ohlrich, added a little fiddle to her repertoire during the climatic "Ever Go A-Courtin', Uncle Joe." As The Chieftains left the stage for the final time, the crowd continued its ovation, even as the house lights went up. It continued so long, in fact, that it seemed The Chieftains would have to come back to appease them. Instead, it was Stowe that returned for a quick bow and a well-timed plug. "If you want to hear this concert again," he said, "we will be performing the same program on St. Patrick's Day." Next stop, it seems, is Carnegie Hall.